Spain I love you, but you are no Italy

Barcelona is great. The weather is perfect, plenty of tourists, and lots to see. I got in last night at around 1030 and immediately took a cab to my hotel bc I had no idea how to use public transportation to get there. It was only 10 euro cab fare. I saw Helen and Florine in Rome from Sunday to Monday, and on Tues morning I went with them to the airport to see them off, then went by myself ona train to Pisa where the airport was to go to Spain. In Pisa I had a few hours so I walked around, saw the tower, etc. It´s a quaint town, but really nice. I liked it. Of course the tower was magnificent, and it leans! WOW! If I saw one more tourist doing the stupid ¨pose¨of holding up the tower, I was gonig to shoot them. Seriously, so annoying and cliche. Enough. The flight was short enough, I slept. When we landed, they turned off the cabin lights and the Italians all on board started cheering and screaming. Typical. I have a video of it, it was hilarious. I was happy I had no baggage to check --- it made leaving the airport easier, and now all I Have is a knapsack. Fantastic to travel light. I never knew, and now I love it.

Today I saw the sagrada familia, (I almost just wrote famiglia by mistake) the ramblas, the port, the joan miro museum, the Barcelona Olympics 1992 museum and stadium. It was a great day, and there are really very few Americans here this year. Its all French and Italian, which makes me feel like I´m back in Italy :) I can´t believe I go back and only have 1 day there before I go home. Fucking sucks. I´m already working on my next trip back. I am really excited to see Paris though. Tomorrow I will be gonig to the beach here and gettnig some sun for my pasty American\ashkenaz skin. Another thing: I totally forgot how to speak Spanish. This is bad, considering I need to write an 80 page paper this year in the language. I´ll have to work to pick it up. Then again, I am in Barcelona so it´s Catalan which is totally different. I MISS ITALY!!!! I tried to find an Italian restaurant in Barcelona tonight...Yes, I am re-experiencing my hatred of Spanish food. I freakin HATE it. But everything else here is beautiful :)

A presto,
David